Photo credit: The Public Theater’s Instagram

How did the partnership between you and The Public begin?

It’s actually more of a partnership between Saheem [Ali], the newly appointed Associate Artistic Director for The Public Theater, and I. He and I have been creative collaborators for many, many years. We’ve done plays together. We’re developing a musical together. We’re working on a film project right now. So he approached me about this idea to remake Merry Wives and said, “I think you’d be great to do it…are you down?” And I said, “yeah!” Ironically, as an actor, The Public Theater was the first theater I ever worked professionally in, and it was a play called Neighbors by Brandon Jacob Jenkins (circa 2011). It was a really fun experience, and I was thrilled to get my Equity Card at The Public. So we have a long history because they started my career off. 

Does The Public choose which work they do for Shakespeare in the Park, or did you have a hand in the decision? What is your experience with Shakespeare? 

I believe The Public, in recent years, is always trying to find new and inventive ways to do some kind of more rare Shakespearean plays. So I think they were circling Merry Wives, and from what I understand, Saheem was ruminating on how to update that play. I had to think about it because Shakespeare is something that kind of eluded me. I was discouraged from pursuing any classical work when I was an undergrad. I went to Ohio State and spoke very candidly about how their program cast a type and limited many of the roles people of color in the program could be in. I was told I was too urban and that my New York accent was not appropriate for the Shakespearean text.  That’s part of the reason I fell into playwriting. I took a course to compensate for the credits I wasn’t getting. I’ve never been in it, and I’ve only ever enjoyed it. I had to read the play myself to make sure I was approaching it with a full understanding. So it feels like a nice and weird full-circle moment that my Shakespearean debut is something I am adapting and bending to my cultural specificity and comedic voice. 

Photo credit: Da Ping Luo (rehearsal room of “Nollywood Dreams.”

How does it feel being a woman of color helming one of the inaugural productions for The Public post-pandemic?

I felt really moved by people’s tweets and direct messages to me about feelings of hope and how much joy it brought them to know that theatre was coming back and that the first theatre they would see is with people who look like them. I have been living in this space in the last year with the pandemic and the racial reckoning that’s happening in our country, and it’s a lot to process alone in your home. So I felt very overwhelmed by the thought that I would be bringing joy and hope into people’s lives again after a year of not feeling that. 

Your work highlights the intentional role that women, especially women of color, play in the arts. Is there a connection between School Girls…, The Merry Wives of Windsor, and other projects you are currently working on? 

Well, I think I always have Black women, particularly African women, at the center of all of my work. I always want them to be strong yet vulnerable, unique, and have different perspectives that people have never seen before. I want them to be empowered in their funny. It’s so rare that we get opportunities to see ourselves be fun and funny and living earnestly in that. Viola is probably really funny, but rarely have we seen her in anything comedic. She’s a brilliant dramatic actress, but I love the opportunity of centering and empowering Black women in something that is funny and brings joy. It’s still poignant and still has a message. It’s not frivolous silliness. That’s always going to be a throughline in all of my work.  I hope something doesn’t happen to me and I lose the funny (laughter).

In either case, what draws you to this particular work, and what can audiences expect in the updated version?

What’s great about Merry Wives is that it is a comedy, and I’m a comedic writer, so we’re working hand in hand here, me and “Billy.” What people can expect, honestly, is largely still true to the play. I’m not completely blowing up all the Shakespearean text. It’s Shakespeare In the Park, so I still want people to come and enjoy that. I feel like there’s an opportunity to change it [the words]; adapt it, find a new way to say it, flip words that feel more authentic so that it lands on the tongue better for someone probably saying it in a West African dialect. Black joy is an act of rebellion, and we need that. I want it to be a very celebratory experience, and it should be filled with joy. Recognition of what we’ve been through, but still a lot of joy.

Photo credit: Da Ping Luo (cast and crew of “School Girls.”

How have you been staying creative during the pandemic? 

I’ve had work to do! I do have film and tv stuff that has balanced me, so I do feel very blessed to have still kept working. But, in the moments emotionally when I just couldn’t in May and June [2020] where it felt impossible to do any work, I just didn’t. I allowed myself space and time to heal and deal. Most Black people are familiar with the latter, and to be able to do both simultaneously, as best I could, was nice. Creatively I was able to flip the space when I could. The opportunity to work at my own pace is one I’ve never been afforded, so I took advantage of it. 

What are your hopes for Broadway and American theatre when it officially reopens?

Well, I hope that Broadway doesn’t look the same way it did when it shut down. It would make me sad if we just went to business as usual, considering all of the things I hope we’ve all learned. I hope it’s a different Broadway. We have to be on the pulse and tell new stories. I’ve never even heard of using African accents for Shakespearean texts. So that’s the reinventing of the wheel we’re talking about here. It’s about really adding new spokes. We understand what works. We understand what’s great. So how do we paint that wheel, put some glitter on it, add some color, and make this thing new and fresh so that it feels like we’re on a new ride every single time? That’s what I hope Merry Wives is going to do. And I hope the other guards of the gate, especially Broadway, will notice: We’re the culture…we’re not part of the culture, we ARE the culture. Black Twitter IS Twitter. We make Tik Tok. We make everything. We are the pulse, and if you’re not with that, then I don’t know where you are. 

Photo credit: The Public Theater’s website

What words do you have for your audience?

I want them to feel invited to the experience. I want them to feel invited to the party because everyone is. As for the takeaway, I want them to feel seen. I want anyone and everyone to come to see it, but if I were a club bouncer, I’d be like (jokingly), “POC in first, and if we got anybody left, it’ll be $20.” I think it’s super important that we be at the front of the line because there’s been a lot of Black trauma in the theatre community that has been shared in this time bravely. Our voices are louder now than they’ve ever been, and we are not turning down the volume. So I hope everybody’s there and it’s just a big ole Black party in the park. We love parties in the park! 

Saheem Ali released the following statement about the production and his partnership with The Public and Jocelyn Bioh:

“Merry Wives will be set among immigrants of the African diaspora living just north of Central Park. After the political and social upheaval of our recent past, I can think of no better way to reopen The Delacorte than with a production that celebrates New York’s immigrant community, of which I am a proud member, and centers radical Black joy with this glorious Shakespeare comedy. I’m also thrilled to be partnering with my creative sister Jocelyn Bioh, who will be adapting the play. Jocelyn and I have worked together over the years on new plays and musicals. We have a shared vision of expanding the scope of African stories on American stages, and I’m beyond excited to have her reimagining a classical play with her brilliant touch.”

Free Shakespeare in the Park has begun with MERRY WIVES, a fresh and joyous adaptation by Jocelyn Bioh of Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor. So get down to Central Park; the show runs until September 18th. 

Set in South Harlem, amidst a vibrant and eclectic community of West African immigrants, MERRY WIVES is a New York story about tricks of the heart, performed in the heart of the City—Central Park’s magical Delacorte Theater. A raucous spinoff featuring the Bard’s most beloved comic characters, this hilarious farce tells the story of the trickster Falstaff and the wily wives who outwit him in a new celebration of Black joy, laughter, and vitality.

The post Up Close: Jocelyn Bioh Talks Adapting Shakespeare and Hopes For The Future of The American Theatre appeared first on Broadway Black.

“If I said the name August Wilson, what’s the first thing that comes to your mind?”

“Storyteller.”
“Prophet.”
“Truth-teller.”
“An amazing visionary.”

Friday night (February 20th) PBS aired August Wilson: The Ground on Which I Stand, a documentary commemorating the 70th anniversary of master storyteller August Wilson’s birth, the 10th anniversary of his death, and Black History Month. A beautifully poignant and funny and educational piece, The Ground on Which I Stand is the first documentary about the Tony and Pulitzer-winning playwright and “distiller of the Black experience.”

The documentary featured exclusive interviews with artists who had the privilege of working intimately with August, archival footage of productions of his play, updated vignettes from his plays, and interviews with the man himself. We are treated to stories and recollections from the likes of Viola Davis, Suzan-Lori Parks, Phylicia Rashad, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Charles S. Dutton, James Earl Jones, Laurence Fishburne, various theatre critics, and August’s widow and costume designer Constanza Romero.

The night it aired, my timeline on Twitter was ALIVE with people loving and appreciating this American Masters episode.

His birth name was Frederick August Kittel Jr. but he was known to the world as August Wilson #AugustWilsonPBS pic.twitter.com/yPjD4TcKfC

— BroadwayBlack (@BroadwayBlack) February 21, 2015

This man’s spiritual energy & rituals he put into his writings is unquestionably God gifted. #AugustWilsonPBS documentary is incredible!

— Dawn M Williams (@Aurora_333) February 21, 2015

When you see an August Wilson play, you will not leave the theatre as the same person you were when you came in. #AugustWilsonPBS

— Dr. Goddess (@drgoddess) February 21, 2015

“We do not need colorblind casting. We need some theaters.” – August Wilson YES. YES. YES. #AugustWilsonPBS — britni danielle (@BritniDWrites) February 21, 2015

Thank you, thank you, thank you August — for being our historian, our distiller, and our champion. A MASTER, indeed. #AugustWilsonPBS.

— Damone Williams (@DamoneWilliams_) February 21, 2015

Watching this documentary did a few things for me:

• It solidified for me that our stories and lives as Black people are worthy, in all their forms. Like Ruben Santiago Hudson said in the doc, “He (August Wilson) wrote the frustrations AND the glory of being Black.” He humanized us. He humanized us in the face of an industry that sought (and seeks) to dehumanize us.

• It encouraged me to continue to meet pen to paper, and give life to the voices of the characters inside of me. If we don’t tell OUR stories, they’ll be told for us. And we all know how that tends to go. So — I’m encouraged to unapologetically tell stories about my people, and for my people.

• It filled me with so much pride to see the community that August, Lloyd and their entire team built. To see actors who a lot of us look up to now, in their heyday…some as young then as I am now…leaving it all on the stage in an August Wilson masterpiece, was inspiring. It has me now looking for those kinds of communities to be part of in 2015.

• It seared in me the passion to carry the baton into the next leg of the race. While his work remains, August is gone. His spirit still permeates the firmament, but we won’t be getting another August Wilson masterpiece. Yes — that’s heartbreaking, in a sense, but it’s also an encouraging reason to galvanize the next generation of young distillers of the Black experience. The next generation of August Wilson’s, and Lorraine Hansberry’s, and Amiri Baraka’s. The next generation of Ruby Dee’s, and Ossie Davis’, and Maya Angelou’s. The next generation of Lloyd Richards’. We have to pick up that baton, and march forward — our eyes fixed squarely upon the prize. We have to do the work of honoring those who came before. We have to, if we intend to be a people who sustain. Telling our stories, all of our stories, is directly linked with our survival.

Do yourself a solid, and watch this powerful, poignant, and necessary documentary on one of our warriors. Do yourself a solid, then get up, get out, and be part of the change we so desperately need.

Thank you for living your best life, Mr. Wilson. #AugustWilsonPBS pic.twitter.com/D7n7TRnydf — BroadwayBlack (@BroadwayBlack) February 21, 2015

The post (WATCH) August Wilson Documentary: The Ground On Which I Stand appeared first on Broadway Black.